Lindsay Clancy’s defense grills prosecution’s psychiatrist as murder trial nears end: Live updates

Friday’s testimony concluded with a heated courtroom clash between defense attorney Kevin Reddington and Dr Avram Mack, prompting the judge to intervene as both men repeatedly talked over each other.

Reddington grew increasingly frustrated with Dr Mack as he cross-examined him.

At one point, Reddington pointedly asked Mack: ‘Your area of interest is in adolescents who like to smoke weed and drink, isn’t it?’

‘No,’ the psychiatrist responded.

Reddington then pressed Mack on whether he had ‘ever come within breathing distance of a pregnant woman.’

He challenged the psychiatrist’s experience with women, asking how many he had treated before appearing to accuse him of fabricating his testimony: ‘What are you making this up?’

Reddington brandished a copy of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) as he challenged Mack.

He hammered home to the courtroom that postpartum psychosis is not listed as a standalone condition in the DSM, which is widely regarded as the psychiatric community’s diagnostic ‘Bible.’

‘I didn’t write the DSM, so I’m not here to represent it,’ Dr Mack replied as he testified as an expert witness for the prosecution.

Reddington then directed Mack to a section of the manual noting that women with bipolar disorder have an ‘increased risk of mood episodes’ during pregnancy.

Earlier, Mack testified that Clancy had the capacity for criminally responsibility when she ‘methodically’ killed her three children.

He testified that her phrase ‘go to god’ was ‘not only hope for the children but a description of the situation.’

‘The deaths were done one by one in a way that was organized and tended to achieve a particular goal. Her attempt at suicide was also organized in that it included as many methods as possible,’ Mack said.